Flacco showed how much more comfortable he is in his $120.6 million skin by stepping up as the Baltimore Ravens' tone setter out to defy critics who doubt that he and his reconstructed team can win another Super Bowl.

"I can't really complain at this point. We won last year. I have a lot of money â?? I'm going to get a lot of money â?? and we're going to win a lot of football games,'' Flacco said Tuesday. "That's the way it is around here. That's what we're going to get used to, and that's what we want to be used to is winning football games. We're not going to apologize for acting like a good football team."

It sounds like something Tom Brady might say.

But, hey, that's where Flacco hopes to lead his team â?? into Brady's three-time Super Bowl-winning dynasty territory.

Earlier, the sixth-year quarterback with the 63-30 career record flashed underrated athleticism on several bootleg throws the way he did to upstage dual-threat San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the Super Bowl.

"Joe will sneak up on you as a mobile guy,'' coach John Harbaugh told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. "We obviously saw what he did in the playoffs, which was obviously his most consistent run. And he'll grow on that. It's nothing he hasn't done out here before."

And that likely will mean good things for the defending Super Bowl champions.

Does Flacco feel more pressure on his shoulder pads after his 11-touchdown, no-interception postseason that matched Hall of Famer Joe Montana's playoff performance in the 1989 season?

In fact, he sounded more assertive and more impervious to his critics who still doubt whether he's an elite quarterback.

"I think if we didn't win (the Super Bowl), you all would still be saying that we suck, and if we did win, you all would still say the same â?? 'Well, I don't know about you guys here,' '' Flacco said. "I don't think it really matters either way."